


To Be The One

by svana_vrika



Category: Free!
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28093056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svana_vrika/pseuds/svana_vrika
Summary: Asahi is looking forward to a night with his boyfriend after tending to Akane’s family while they were ill. But, things don't always go according to plan.
Relationships: Shigino Kisumi/Shiina Asahi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: 2020 AsaKisu Charity 'zine Project: First of Many





	To Be The One

**Author's Note:**

> One of the two pieces I did for the 2020 AsaKisu charity 'zine, _First of Many_. Many talented authors and artists participated on behalf of the MATW-Project for orphan housing, and I was proud to serve as a moderator and contributor!

Sickness had burned through Akane’s family, stealing the month of August from them. Not _The Virus_ , thank the gods, just an early influenza; extremely unusual, but not unheard of, the doctor had told Asahi kindly. _And don’t feel badly for panicking,_ he’d said. _I think we’ll all be afraid of every little cough and sneeze for a while._ Asahi had been grateful, both for the news and for the assurance. He’s never been one to live in fear of anything, really, so that instant panic had been new for him. Then again, the first eight months of the year had been fairly removed from normal.

Tsukushi had been the first to recover, but his illness had been the hardest to deal with. They’d whisked him away to a hospital where he could receive the attention and treatment that neither of his parents had been able to give and, once he’d been well enough, he’d been sent to Kon’s parents until Kon and Akane had recovered enough that the three of them could safely cohabitate again.

After what felt like forever, their little family is together again. _Marron’s_ doors will reopen in the morning and Kon will be back on his sports beats in two days. And Asahi… well.

With a huge sigh and an even bigger grin, Asahi flops back onto his bed. Asahi just can’t wait to spend the evening with his boyfriend.

Eyes sliding shut, Asahi tries to think how long it’s been since they’d had any true time together. He thinks _true_ , because Kisumi had been with him through the ordeal, checking in with him every day at school and running what errands he could while Asahi had taken care of Akane and Kon. Kisumi would have done more, too, had Asahi or Akane permitted it, but they’d both put their foot down about Kisumi coming anywhere closer than the doorstep, and Akane is even more frightening when she’s sick than she can be when healthy.

 _How many days has it been?_ He prods his brain again as he absently rubs at his twitching nose. He tries to count back, but his head is foggy, probably because laying down just feels _so good._ Between school and training and taking care of things, and the fear and worry he’d been dealing with, sleep has been an even rarer companion than Kisumi over the past… three weeks? Twenty-five days? Tsukushi had gone in on August second, and it’s… _Crap,_ Asahi thinks. _What day **is** it? Stupid, tired brain. So much for being a genius. _“Right,” he says aloud, and he clears his throat ‘cause his voice had sounded raspy, and then licks his lips. _Right. So. August second. And thirty days in September, April…_

He can’t remember what comes next. He tries, and tries, and thinks about rolling just the slight bit to grab his phone, but it’s so far away, and he _really_ doesn’t want to move, because it kind of hurts. Or maybe it only hurts ‘cause he’s so very cold. But then if he’s freezing to death, why in the hell is it so hot?

“Asahi!” 

His name bounces around his head like a basketball loose on a court, and Asahi whines at the painful annoyance. More words come, but he can’t really make them out. He just knows they’re soothing, but not as soothing as the fingers pushing through his hair and then dusting his forehead. And then they’re gone and so is the pretty, pretty voice. It’s _so_ pretty, the prettiest boy he’s ever seen and he’s so in love with Kisumi, and did he say that aloud? That’s pretty stupid since he’s alone in his room, and especially since it feels like his throat has been cracked open with it, but then the cool fingers are back and that pretty voice tells him, _I’m here,_ which means he _had_ said it aloud, but also that he can let go and forget about _everything._

So he does. For a long time, and then he feels those soft fingers on his forehead again, but this time, when they start to move away, he has the strength and presence of mind to try and reach for them. He misses, but it doesn’t matter. The fingers find his, interlace through them, and as they squeeze lightly, Asahi opens his eyes.

“Hello, handsome.” Kisumi’s voice is as light as ever, but there’s something off with his eyes; Asahi blinks his slowly, then homes in on them again, sees the relief and lingering worry, sees the utter exhaustion.

“Ki—” his throat scratches slightly and his lips are dry, so he licks over them, swallows, tries again. “Kisumi. What happened?”

“You ran yourself into the ground and got yourself sick, that’s what happened!” Asahi shifts his head, sees Akane over Kisumi’s shoulder. He’s well enough to know she’d snapped because she’s so relieved, too, and he offers her a weak copy of his usual grin.

“Sorry, ‘ne-chan.”

“Tch.” She comes around Kisumi, bends over his bed and, fiercely, jams a thermometer under his tongue. “There. Now you can’t say anymore stupid things for a few seconds at least.” But her expression is soft, as is her hand when she lightly touches his cheek before straightening. “Kisumi-kun.”

“I’ve got it Akane-san,” he assures, and she nods and then, saying she’ll be back soon with more medicine, leaves Asahi’s little apartment.

“Wha—” Asahi scowls around the thermometer and then goes to pull it out, but Kisumi stops him with a light hand to his arm.

“Don’t you dare.” Asahi’s brows arch at Kisumi’s tone even as he clamps his lips back around the stick. “You’ve been out of it for almost two days, Asahi.”

Fortunately, the thermometer beeps then, as it might well have fallen out of Asahi’s mouth in his surprise. “Wh— _two days?_ ” he asks as Kisumi takes it from him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Ah, normal. Thank god,” Kisumi murmurs and then he goes to get up, but before he can, Asahi’s got his arms around him to keep him there on his bed. “Asahi!”

Asahi blushes deeply; he doesn’t even know why he’d done what he had, except that he doesn’t want Kisumi to leave. It must show, though, because Kisumi’s _Very Serious_ expression fades into one of such tenderness that it makes Asahi blush all over again. “I’m just going to get some porridge heating up,” he explains, and with a sheepish nod, Asahi lets him go, eyes falling closed again when Kisumi presses a light kiss to his forehead before standing. 

As Kisumi putters in his miniscule kitchenette, he tells Asahi what had happened; how Asahi had never shown to pick him up two nights back, how he’d not answered Kisumi’s texts or calls, how Kisumi had found him sprawled on his bed, more passed out from his fever than actually asleep, when he’d let himself in with the key Asahi had made for him. “I was so afraid,” he says softly and in a voice that Asahi hasn’t ever heard from him before. It makes Asahi’s heart ache, but before he can do more than part his lips for the apology, Kisumi looks over his shoulder with a quiet, but firm, “Don’t.”

Asahi gives him a small smile and a quiet, “Ah. I didn’t know you knew how to make porridge,” he comments after quietly clearing his throat, and Kisumi smiles a bit.

“We won’t know until you taste it. It’s my first time. But I wanted to do _something,_ so when I came back after Akane-san chased me out the first time, I picked up the ingredients. It should be good, though. Haru told me what to do, after all.”

“Haru?”

“Mm. I didn’t want to bother Akane while she was with you, and I couldn’t get ‘ka-san or Sousuke.” Kisumi gives him a look over his shoulder. “Haru said he was impressed. He didn’t think idiots caught colds.”

“Oh, very funny,” Asahi mutters petulantly, and Kisumi laughs a bit.

“I thought it was.”

Asahi turns away, pulls his covers up to his ears. Maybe it is, a _little_ , but he feels like crap, as much from having worried everyone as from being sick, and he absolutely _hates_ doing both, so it really isn’t.

“You’re my idiot, though.” The words come close enough to him that he opens his eyes and turns his head in surprise. “My strong, handsome idiot who takes such care of everyone else that he forgets himself, sometimes. And I’m glad to be the one who gets to take care of _you._ ”

“Kisumi.”

“Shh.” Kisumi leans down, kisses the corner of his mouth and then helps him get situated. Once he’s ready, Kisumi goes back for the porridge and then settles onto the bed beside him; Asahi leans into him with a quiet sigh and some of that petulance creeps back in; he’s _so tired_ already! 

“C’mon, Angel. Just a few bites at least, hm?” Kisumi pleads, and Asahi opens his eyes, because how can he say no to _that?_ Kisumi smiles, feeds him a bite, and then tilts his head slightly. “Good?”

“Mm.” He takes another, and then another and, after a few more, he shakes his head and then lets it rest on Kisumi’s shoulder again; feels Kisumi shift to place the bowl on his nightstand. Once he’s settled again, Asahi licks his lips and then presses a kiss to Kisumi’s pretty neck. “Thanks, Babe,” he murmurs, and while he feels bad that the first time Kisumi’s had to take care of him sick had started off with such a scare, there isn’t anyone else he’d rather have there with him. “Stay?” he finds himself asking as he curls in closer to his love, and he feels so cared for and comfortable that he can’t even be embarrassed for how small and whingey he sounds.

“Mm,” Kisumi says softly and he strokes through Asahi’s hair again, knowing the petting will help him sleep. “There isn’t anywhere else I’d be.”


End file.
